Gartner : Is Your Comms Team Scared of Measuring Impact? You Can Help Them.

More responsibilities tend to pile onto Comms teams' plates every year. However, increased activity volume makes it difficult to track the impact that Comms work has on organizational goals. Too busy with day-to-day work, communicators rarely have time to monitor the results of their contribution. Even more concerning, some clients have shared with me that their teams arescaredto dip their toes into measurement. They're wary of trying to establish a credible relationship between Comms activities and organizational outcomes.

If you recognise your team in this scenario, here are four things you can do to ease them into a measurement process that goes beyond counting clicks and likes:

1. Listen to Your Team

There are numerous vendors out there that promise the world when it comes to communications measurement. They offer anything from fancy analytics tools to complex dashboards that are meant to help you showcase your content's effectiveness. But is your team even ready for that? Do they believe measurement is worth their time? Are they clear on the business priorities that they need to support?

Spend some time listening to where they honestly are on their measurement learning journey. Ask them what they find challenging and frustrating. That will help you identify the key barriers they are running against right now, together. Then, you can proceed to accurately map out the next level in their measurement development. Gartner Communications clients can explore various measurement maturity levels inImprove Your Team's Communications Measurement: The Proficiency Ladder.

1. Address Their Fears Head-On

There are two key fears Comms teams have about measurement.

The first one is that by trying to link Communications' work to organizational outcomes, the Comms team will be on the hook for things they don't solely control. You can remind them that every big outcome they contribute to is also dependent on the work of many other people. What matters here is that business partner and communicator together agree on the content/think/feel/behavioural metrics that Communications will be responsible for to influence the business objective.

I've also seen many Comms teams having to answer some very tough questions when big items like engagement or reputation go down. That is another reason why you should encourage them to define and measure their own discreet contribution to larger business objectives. They will get the credit they deserve if things go swimmingly, and they will be safer if they've done their bit but the bigger initiative doesn't do well because of factors beyond their control.

The other big fear I hear about is that an increased focus on measurement will reveal that, well, the team isn't providing much value. Again, youwantto know that as soon as possible so you can change it! Murky impact could mean that communicators are either spending most of their time working on lower value activities, or that their messaging is off target. In any case, the sooner they discover that, the quicker they can reassess and pivot towards more valuable activities or explore alternative Comms tactics.

1. Learn From Peers in Other Functions

Measurement has been a notorious pain point for Communications, but other functions might be further ahead on the journey. Think about how you can connect your team with peers in Marketing, Sales, IT and others who can share their experience with linking what they do to business outcomes. For example, a member of your team that is particularly keen on measurement could pilot a cross-functional measurement working group. Peers from various functions could meet on a regular basis to discuss best practices and challenges. Or, if time is an obstacle, your team can host Lunch & Learns, where you invite measurers from across the organization to share their knowledge-to motivate attendance, you pay for lunch.

Learning from more advanced peers has another benefit, too. The more advanced your team becomes in measurement, the more they will need to rely on outside peers and systems to collect the data they need. So, early exposure and relationship-building will set them up for success later.

1. Introduce a Measurement Specialist Role

If measurement is something your team does on the side whenever they have spare time, and if measurement skills aren't something you deliberately recruit for, you need to consider having a dedicated resource to focus on the task. A measurement specialist can lay the foundation of a systematic, consistent way of tracking the impact of what your team does. This person doesn't necessarily need to be someone with a data-savvy background (although that would be ideal). And the role doesn't even need to be full-time to begin with, or even limited to one person. Good candidates for a measurement specialist role will have data curiosity and strong critical thinking and outcomes focus. Gartner Communications clients can check out Gartner'sRole Deep Dive: Measurement Specialistfor ideas on structuring and implementing the role.

Once you have a strong and dedicated measurement specialist or two, it's time to spread the knowledge. Your measurement efforts won't get your function far if they are limited to only a couple of people and the rest can't be bothered. A measurement ambassador program could help disperse measurement responsibilities across your team. This will limit the need for a large group of dedicated measurement specialists and will ensure that other team members are also upskilling in that area. Gartner Communications clients can check out how UPS did it inUpskill Your Communications Team With a Measurement Ambassador Program.

The good news is that the more measurement your team does, the easier it will feel. Even if they start by measuring a single project or campaign and then slowly expand to tracking more, that's already a step towards greater impact.